PHILADELPHIA _ When the opener of the Mets and Phillies' doubleheader Thursday turned into the theatre of the absurd, Scott Kingery, an infielder without a hit all month, took the mound to face Jerry Blevins, a 15-year professional reliever hitless in four career at-bats.
Blevins singled, his line drive to center driving in just another run a 24-4 Mets win.
It was that kind of game for the Mets, who have enjoyed a couple of stat-padding days. Their 24 runs were a franchise record, their 25 hits a franchise record in a nine-inning game. Those came on the heels of a 16-run, 19-hit night Wednesday against the Orioles. It was the first time in franchise history the Mets scored more than 15 runs in consecutive games.
The Mets blew the game open in the fifth inning, when they tallied 10 runs _ the same number they scored from June 2-13. Ranger Suarez (four innings, eight runs, four earned) gave way to reliever Mark Leiter Jr., who gave up seven runs, all unearned, during the 15-batter mess in which Kevin Plawecki (4-for-4, upping his average to .238) walked twice.
Amed Rosario, Austin Jackson, Wilmer Flores and Michael Conforto all had at least three hits.
Brandon Nimmo left the game in the third inning after getting hit on his left index finger on a check-swing groundout. X-rays were negative. His replacement, Jose Bautista, hit a grand slam and had a career-high seven RBIs.
Corey Oswalt allowed four home runs in six innings.
